Michael Groth
John Michael Groth, better known as Michael Groth, (born November 1994) is the founder and star of the YouTube channels MandJTV Pokevids and JMIkeyG. He is currently living in Houston, Texas, where he is a part time YouTuber and a student of Rice University. His signature look in his videos is his cap worn backwards, similar to Ash Ketchum. Biography Early Life Michael Groth was born on November 1994 in Anchorage, Alaska to parents working in the oil business. When he was about three, he would become the oldest of two children when his younger brother Justin was born. Discovering Pokémon Michael moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma at the age of five. Everyday after school, he would watch the PBS kids show Clifford the Big Red Dog ''on television. One day, during kindergarden, however, six year old Michael found that it wasn't on much to his disappointment. Instead, he ended up watching an episode from the ''Pokémon Original Series. This was the start to his like for Pokémon. Michael started watching the anime and later discovered the game when some kids brought them to class. Moving to Texas Michael moved to Houston, Texas after living in Bartlesville for two years. There, on his ninth birthday, he got his first Pokémon ''video game, Pokémon Ruby, and gameboy advanced sp, thus furthering his interest for the ''Pokémon ''franchise. '' Life started to go downhill for Michael later. He still enjoyed Pokémon ''while it became less popular at school as he grew up. As a result, he really got bullied for it. His appearance became unappealing when his face was covered with acne, getting braces, and having pulp teeth. Michael was emotionally unstable and had a really negative temper. His dad would step in to try to help him. However, even that ended when his dad died of pancreatic cancer when he was just 11, so Michael's ability to deal with bullying went out the window. By middle school, he had little friends and often fought with Justin. Michael stated in one of his YouTube videos that he have "few fond memories" of that time. Early Creativity and YouTuber Life In middle school, Michael made use of his creativity. He wrote stories of a character he named "Shock Boy", a series called "Mutant Mike", and books of his own made up ''Pokémon. ''Michael would write the Mutant Mike series again during ninth grade. Eventually, by his summer after eighth grade, his creativity went to YouTube, being inspired by other famous YouTubers at the time, such as Fred. Michael and Justin started the YouTube channel ''MandJTV, which is short for Michael and Justin TV. They made their first videos, which were not Pokémon ''related, the start in their series being Nerf War Gone Wrong. Although these videos weren't popular, Michael and Justin kept it up because both enjoyed it and some videos made their mom laugh. These early videos are now posted on the channel MandJTV Classics. New Life Michael's mom started dating his current step father during his eighth grade. They married and by August before Michael's freshmen year of High School, the family moved in with him. At that time, Michael moved again, transferring from Houston to Midland, Texas. His step dad filled in a gap in Michael's family, improving both Michael and his family's life. While his life at home became better, it wasn't quite the same at school. He switched to a private school named Trinity School of Midland with only forty students. Michael's negative temper and unappealing from earlier in life still followed him around. Also, assimilating proved to be difficult as many students at his new school grew up knowing each other. According to Michael, his first two years of high school were the worst with "freshmen year being exceptionally bad". Michael's high school life went up by his junior year. He got his braces off after four years, his acne disappeared, and he switched his hair style. That is also the time he first started dating. Michael took teasing better, realizing it wasn't meant to harm. By senior year, he made more friends than ever. Him and Justin got along better than ever. Michael was accepted to his dream college, Rice University, where he attends to this day. Michael still made YouTube videos for his channel. By this time, he started making a series that focused on a batman spoofed superhero named Raccoon Man, which his classmates enjoyed. All the Raccoon Man videos along with all his other original videos are now available to see on MandJTV Classics. MandJTV Pokévids Michael's YouTube videos expanded to ''Pokémon. He started a new channel called MandJTV Pokevids and made ''Pokémon ''videos, being inspired by his childhood. During his summer before college, he created his first popular ''Pokémon ''video, "How Old is Ash Ketchum", which got a million view during his first college semester. Michael then switched to only making ''Pokémon ''videos when he realized that those were more popular than any of his previous videos. College Life Michael is almost graduating Rice University, his major being Mechanical Enginnering. He still makes ''Pokémon ''related videos, which are also what he mainly fouceses enduring his free time. Due to college and being only a part time YouTuber, Michael doesn't have time to constantly work on videos. In college, he also started another channel called JMikeyG. Family * Michael's Father (deceased) * Michael's mom * Michael's Stepfather * Justin Groth (younger brother) * Three Older Stepsisters (mentioned in 50 K Subscribers Special) Personal Life Michael is currently dating Jubilee Blaisdell Trivia * Growing up in Alaska, he enjoyed playing with his toy animals. His favorite was his toy zebra Panky, which he still owns. * He was a member of Boys Scout from which he earned the title of an eagle scout * Michael's ultimate ''Pokémon ''team is Sceptile, Luxray, Charizard, Gyarados, Umbreon, and Flygon. * Michael's biggest fear are of wasps. He once left a class when a wasp showed up at the window. * His favorite food is a toss up between french toast and pumpkin pie. * Despite loving Pokémon, Michael would not go on a Pokémon journey because he would have to leave behind friends and family. * Besides Pokémon, Michael also enjoys Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Cart, but Pokémon remains his main interest. * Although he don't read much on his free time, Michael stated he had a favorite book series. He likes reading the Percy Jackson series and The Heroes of Olympus series. * Michael's hobbies are video making, story writing, football, and fitness. His workout routine goes from Monday to Friday every week. On Monday, he work out his arms, on Tuesday, he works out how legs, on Wednesday, he works out chest, on Thursday, he works out his back, and on Friday, he works out his shoulders and abs. * Michael's YouTube channels are: # ManJTV Classics, which contains all of Michael's original videos, including Raccoon Man. All those videos were made before his Pokémon videos. # MandJTV Pokevids, which contains Michael's Pokémon videos. It is his most subscribed channel and most popular channel with almost 300,000 subscribers. He received a plaque for his amount of subscribers. # JMikeyG, which contains videos of Michael's daily life. Gallery